Clipped Wings
by Swagnarok
Summary: "The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and her tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom." Written at the request of Dragonshadow97. Episodes 1005-1006. WARNING: Disturbing Content.
1. Chapter 1

_*whuuuush*_

 _There was a pause, and then:_

 _*whuuuush*_

 _Just one more, he thought, exhausted. Just one more._

 _Paying extra close attention to his joints, which were more keen to make little bitty mistakes when they were tired, he kicked the ball. And again, it went flying into the net, though he wasn't satisfied with the trajectory that it took. He still needed practice._

 _Shinichi knew it was partway his fault. He shouldn't have been slacking off on his routine these past three or so weeks. But then again, he didn't think that it'd matter: as far as he knew then, he would not be joining his teammates as they traveled to Kyoto to play the championship game against the Tomobiki Middle School soccer team. But when Nakamichi ended up getting suspended from the team for a prank gone sour, Shinichi had no choice but to take his place, which meant he had four days to whip himself back into playing shape. It was going to be a long week._

 _He panted, bending down to grasp his knees, because for whatever reason that seemed to help._

 _A few yards away was a metal fence. He heard a very light rattling coming from it. But then:_

 _A white towel landed on his head. Just out of nowhere. He might've been mad about it if it wasn't, well, a freaking towel. He turned around._

 _It was Ran, his childhood friend. He was glad to see her here, if just to have a good reason to stop and take a break._

 _"Working hard or hardly working?"_

 _"Please, that just doesn't sound right unless a half-judgmental old person's saying it," he retorted._

 _She chuckled slightly and then pointed as to indicate 'there's something on your nose'._

 _He used the towel to wipe it off. Grinning, he then put the towel down to rest on his shoulders._

 _"There you go," she said in a very friendly manner._

 _The rattling sound happened again. Slightly louder and shorter this time._

 _"By the way," Ran said. "The drama club's putting on_ Anne of Green Gables _."_

 _"Is that what this is about?" he asked. "I take it you came here to ask me to sign up?"_

 _"Well, Yuri-san wanted me to ask you," Ran said. "It won't even be a big part. Won't involve a lot of lines, or rehearsal. You won't have to practice at all until after the championship's over. Will you at least go see her and find out what part she'd like you to play?"_

 _He sighed, and then relented, but with mock indignation: "This better not interfere with my studies any."_

 _"What do you care anyway?" she responded jokingly._

 _Shinichi finally turned his head._

 _"Huh?" Ran said. "Is there something wrong?"_

 _"...Nah," he said. "It's probably just my mind playing tricks on me. Or maybe it's the wind..."_

 **OPENING**

(White Sails by Maroon Festival)

(Conan's Voice: No pain, no gain! In the course of exposing the flaws in others you'll often uncover unwanted truths about yourself! An old schoolmate re-enters our lives with a harrowing account! The Tokyo police mobilize for a citywide manhunt! Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

If you look now you can see them departing from the docks

Bravely embarking beyond the horizon visible from the shore

Venturing into the endless deep-blue expanse we call the earth

Filled with anticipation and the realization there's no turning back

A trail blazed by the trade winds, overhead, blowing on their hair

Their time-worn wooden craft dipping into the crashing waves

The furthest out of the land-based seagulls seeing them off at last

As they boldly tread where none of their kin have gone before

"Isn't it great to be alive in these times?" the captain says, leaning against the deck

"Our forefathers made the way for this glorious day: let's not let them down, eh?"

White sails unfurled, capturing the wind, our time is here and now

We are the human race, the inheritors of a momentous undertaking

Today we write the next chapter in the timeless story of the proud

So they'll say of us, "They pushed the boundary to the next level."

 **Clipped Wings! Part One!**

Eri shook him.

"Hey, Conan-kun. Wake up, you're gonna be late!"

He opened his eyes, reached for his phone, and checked the time.

Indeed: his first class would be starting in twenty minutes.

"Crap!"

He threw the sheets off of himself and ran to his closet, combing through the selection of identical blue dress shirts.

 **Scene Transition**

The door slid open. Panting and sweaty, he took his seat next to Nancy, who'd beaten him there by a good margin.

"Here," she said, handing him a comb.

"Thanks," he said as he applied it to his bedhead. "Hey, wait a second, if you knew to bring a comb, why didn't you just wake me up?"

"You looked so peaceful."

"So does a fresh cadaver," he retorted.

"You would know."

"So would you, of course."

"*ahem*"

They had been talking rather loudly as Kobayashi-sensei was trying to teach the class.

"Conan-kun's hair looks like a rooster's," Ayumi whispered, teasing.

 **Scene Transition**

They sat down with their trays.

"And...once again the lunch ladies here have shown that the only meat they know how to fix up is meatloaf," Conan said. "Good grief, I can't believe I have to pay to eat this."

"Hmph, not sure what you're complaining about," Shiro said, a tinge of bitterness in his voice. "I haven't eaten in twenty four hours, thanks to your friends in high places."

He had been suddenly detained and interrogated the day before by Elena's faction on suspicion of him having tried to get into contact with his former *ahem* colleagues during a recent visit to a Chinese traveling circus with the Detective Boys (while Conan and Nancy were away investigating the matter of a certain critically important figure and a Catholic priest). The reason for such was that Vodka was reportedly present at the event, though Gin was not seen. They adamantly refused to believe his protestations and declarations of innocence until finally this morning they let him go to attend school for the day.

"It would be wonderful if they served us Salisbury Steaks," Ayumi said. "Just once I'd like to try that."

"In America, Salisbury Steaks mainly come in the form of cheap frozen meals," Haibara said. "I've had it before, more than I would've liked. You're not missing out on much."

"Gaah!" Mitsuhiko said.

"Huh?" Genta said. "What's wrong?"

"Part of this meatloaf was still hard when I bit it!" Mitsuhiko said. "Oh, I think I'm bleeding!"

"Let me see that," Nancy said, grabbing him by the face and looking close.

She grabbed a napkin and dabbed it on his red lip. "Let's go see the school nurse."

So she can hit him up with some 'painkiller' I'll bet, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

Little did they know in that moment that somebody from across the room was staring intently at the shrunken detective.

That person shifted his/her eyes left and right furtively and then got up, holding an envelope. They crept out of the cafeteria without anybody noticing.

 **Scene Transition**

It was the end of the school day. They headed over to the locker room.

On this day of the week, all students whose last names ended with the Latin alphabet letters A-D were made to stay about thirty minutes after school to clean up the classrooms. Accordingly, that meant Nancy and Shiro had to stay behind.

"Am I the only one who thought Shiro smelled all day?" Genta asked.

"Not all day," Haibara said. "Just after P.E."

Well, seeing as he didn't get the chance to shower today or last night, that's understandable, Conan thought.

He opened up his shoe locker, which of course was a perfectly mundane detail in the everyday life of Conan Edogawa. But this time:

Hmm? he thought as he noticed the envelope on top.

"Oh? What's that?" Mitsuhiko said.

Conan took it, they all got a good look at it, and:

"HEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHH?!"

With the exception of Haibara, who remained calm and even a little bit amused at the situation at hand, they all kind of lost their wits upon realizing that it was, apparently, a love letter.

It was pink, with a depiction of a rabbit and a stalk with a heart instead of a flower on top. In handwritten Japanese characters it was addressed to "Edogawa Conan-kun". The sender also drew a heart for good measure.

Oh come on, a visibly mortified Conan thought, is this really how far I've sunken?

"Ooooooh, looks like Conan's quite the lady's man," Genta said, nudging him.

Oh my gosh this is my big chance to be with Ayumi-chan, Mitsuhiko thought, hardly believing this sudden change in fortune.

Conan couldn't do anything but wince in response. He knew he wasn't gonna be able to live this down for a while.

"H-Hey, come on, we don't even know if it's a love letter," he said.

"Hmph, I don't care what it is," Ayumi said, though she obviously did care.

Nearby was the entrance to the stairs. From behind a corner the sender of the letter watched from afar. The sender had long hair, not unlike Haibara's except darker, a kind of thick red shirt with buttons and long white sleeves, and a pinkish collar. The sender watched anxiously, but then smiled with a blush upon realizing that Conan Edogawa had indeed received the letter.

 **Scene Transition**

Nancy went out the door.

"Sorry to make you wait," she said.

"No problem," Conan said, standing up. "You being friends with that rich girl who's gonna pay for all the cake I can eat is compensation enough."

"Hmm? What's that?"

"Just a letter some student left in my shoe locker," Conan said, redfaced, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Heeh?! Is that a heart?"

"Y-Yeah. Here."

He gave her the envelope. She took the letter out and read it out loud:

"Dear Conan-kun, you don't know me but I go to the same school as you. I really like you and I want to get to know you in person. Please meet me at Beika Park on Sunday at 12:00 and don't make me wait."

There was another heart at the end.

"She didn't give her name," Nancy observed. "Are you gonna go?"

"Well yea," Conan said. "I'm just gonna tell her up straight that I'm not interested and that'll be the end of it, I hope. Done in thirty seconds."

"Great. You might as well have the Professor help you get her phone number so you can send her a text saying 'I don't like you. Don't ever contact me again.'"

"What, you think it's a bad idea?"

She sighed. "Just saying. Maybe you should be a little more considerate when it comes to things like this. You're probably her first crush, and how you respond to this could have a lifelong impact on her."

" _Oi_ _oi_ , all this responsibility..."

There was a whistling sound as the vehicle, a black limousine, came to a halt. The window rolled down.

"Get in," Sonoko said.

"Geez, don't scare me like that!" Conan said. "And for crying out loud, try driving something that doesn't scream 'pedo'."

"What's the matter?" Sonoko said. "Now that you're a kid are you afraid some pervert's gonna take a sordid interest in you? Anyways, we're going now. Is that okay with you, Ran?"

Nancy nodded. "Let's go."

They got in and the car drove off.

 **Scene Transition**

 **Twenty Minutes Later**

"Alright, now your turn," Sonoko said.

"Alright. Would you rather have a class taught by a man who speaks poor Japanese but is lenient with grading his students, or a teacher who speaks normal Japanese but grades more strictly?"

"Would the latter do a good job of explaining the material?" Sonoko asked.

"He would do as good a job as your average teacher would," Nancy said.

"Would I have a textbook for the class?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, I think I'd have to go with the...no, wait, gah, I'm not sure! What kind of class is it? Is it something I suck at?"

"It's geography," Conan interjected. "And he's sure to ask about Australia on the test."

Sonoko was red in the face. "Nobody asked you!"

Two seconds later, Conan had a bump on his head from where Sonoko had placed her fist.

It's not child abuse if you're not really a child, she thought smugly.

"The class is Geometry," Nancy said.

"Well, in that case, I think I'd go with the teacher who spoke poor Japanese but graded light," Sonoko said.

"We're here," Hitoshi said.

Thank goodness, Conan thought.

They got out of the car, crossed the street, and went inside the building.

It was a large two-story building; part of the first story had been rented out to the owners of this shop, Masutapizu Artisan Pastries. The owner, Takanobu Kobuchi, age 34, had co-starred in a local cooking show for the past five years. He'd gotten his education overseas at a French cooking school, specializing in the aesthetics of food preparation. About two months ago, he opened this establishment, an all-you-can-eat cake buffet.

As they entered, the little bell rung. A few seconds later, a woman came out to greet them.

"Welcome," she said. "You can just grab your trays and plates from over there and dig in."

"Umm, is Kobuchi-san here right now?" Sonoko asked.

"You wanted to see me?" Takanobu said, walking through the kitchen with some freshly baked goodies.

Five seconds later, Sonoko was standing right next to him holding a notebook and a pen, asking him for an autograph.

He signed it, and then:

He gasped. "Wait a second. You're Sonoko Suzuki, an heir to the Suzuki Conglomerate and the girl who's solved a few murder cases."

"Um, yeah?" she said awkwardly.

"Can I have _your_ autograph?" he asked sheepishly.

"W-Well, actually, my mom told me it's best not to accept requests for autographs from random people," Sonoko said.

She paused.

"But since you gave me yours, I guess it's only fair," she said nonchalantly, signing it.

They headed to the buffet line; at this time there was nobody else in line.

"Please, take as much as you like," Takanobu said. "It's on the house today."

"Hey," Conan whispered to Nancy, "do you get a strange feeling from that guy?"

"Huh?" Nancy said. "What do you mean?"

"Like you've seen him somewhere."

"From TV?"

"No, from somewhere else," Conan said. "I feel like I've seen him in person before today."

"Maybe you passed him on the street one time."

"No, I don't feel like I'd remember something like that," he said. "This was repeated. I've seen him several times before."

"You must be imagining it," Nancy said.

They browsed the tables, and found cakes and pies that came in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Several cakes had a "bow ribbon" made out of icing. There was a New York style cheesecake. There was a plate with Mochi in the shape of the Imperial Crest. There was even a Mardi-Gras style King Cake, though it was still a little too early in the year. There was a Pound Cake. Lime Cake. Cookie Cake. Apple Pie. And, to top it off, a tall cake that was designed to look like a Medieval European castle.

They helped themselves and sat down.

"Will Lenore be coming in tonight?" the woman who worked there asked. "Because I really need to be getting back to my kid soon."

Takanobu sighed. "I don't know. She hasn't answered my calls yet. It's not like her to miss a shift...Tell you what: you can leave in about twenty minutes and I'll call you to come back if she doesn't show."

Two customers, having finished eating, got up and went to the front to pay. Takanobu went to bus the table they left behind.

"Down the hatch!" Sonoko said gleefully, beginning to, ahem, "work" on her plate, which was stacked high with sweets.

"Oi, oi!" Nancy said. "Are you really going to eat all of that?"

"Eh? Why not?" Sonoko asked. "I haven't touched anything sweet in almost a week now. And I'll be darned if I leave here without gorging myself 'till I just about explode."

*ring*

A teenage girl walked in. Her face bruised and ghostly pale, her long black hair a mess, her clothes torn, she looked like she'd been through something nasty.

She stood in place and just stared at Takanobu, a stunned expression on her face. A few seconds later, he finished bussing the table and looked up to see who had just walked in.

He took a good look at her, and then:

He dropped his tub. There was a crashing sound. But the guy just didn't give a hoot about that, apparently, because the next thing he did was to dash towards her.

He embraced her, and she was happy to receive it from him.

By this time, every eye in the restaurant was turned towards this curious scene.

"Boss?" the woman who worked there asked. "Who's this?"

He didn't answer her. Instead, he wiped his eyes, and asked:

"I was so worried about you...Where have you been all this time, Naomi?"

Naomi? Conan thought.

Naomi? Nancy thought.

Naomi? Sonoko thought.

It couldn't be, Conan thought.

But then Sonoko got up and ran towards the woman. She got up in her face and got a good look at her.

"Aren't you...Raven-chan?" she asked.

Sniffing, the girl known as Naomi nodded.

"What? You know her?" Takanobu said.

"Y-Yeah, we attended the same middle school," Sonoko said.

So it is her, Nancy thought. She finally shows up now, after all this time?

Naomi turned to Takanobu. "Uncle, I finally escaped from that man. I don't know how long it's been, but..."

"Uncle?" Sonoko repeated.

"Naomi, what happened?"

"It was...he came at me from behind," Naomi said, her voice faltering. "He must've drugged me, because when I came to I was in his cellar. He's kept me there for all this time. He...did things to me. Really terrible things. Over and over and over again, never ending. I wanted to die, but he wouldn't let me..."

"I'll call the police," the woman who worked there said.

"Naomi, do you recognize the man who did this to you?" Takanobu asked.

She nodded. "I don't know his name, but I know his face."

"Can you take the police to his location? To where you were held?"

"N-No, no, I-I can't...go back there...!" she said.

"Naomi, please, the only way they'll be able to bring your assailant to justice is if-

"I said NO!" she screamed.

She fell to her knees and had a long overdue emotional release.

 **Scene Transition**

 _"Man, it's too hot to hold this ceremony in the gym," Shinichi said. "I bet it's going to smell something awful in here too by the time it's all over."_

 _"Well, it's the only building here big enough to accommodate all the students and their parents, along with the faculty," Yusaku said. "But I'm glad I dressed light for today. Look at all these people; it's like they came expecting it to be below zero or something."_

 _"Why'd you two have to come anyway?" Shinichi said. "Mom, weren't you in the middle of filming that spy movie in New Zealand?"_

 _"Silly, of course I'd be here for my son's graduation," Yukiko said._

 _"Sheesh, it's just Middle School," Kogoro said. "Not like they're graduating High School or College. People are making too big a deal out of this."_

 _"Then why'd you come?" Yukiko asked, annoyed._

 _"Forgot to stock the fridge for beer, figured there's no point watching Yoko-chan on TV sober," he said with a shrug._

 _"Come on," Ran said. "Dad, don't say stuff like that when mom's sitting right there!"_

 _"Hmph, it doesn't affect me one bit what that old fart does with his spare time," Eri said._

 _Old...fart? Kogoro thought, teed off._

 _The microphone on stage made a weird puffing sound, because the Vice-Principle was tapping it to make sure it was on._

 _"Uh, yes, if I may have your attention," he said, "we'll be starting momentarily."_

 _The students went to the stage as their names were called and as the somber music played._

 _"And finally, Shujiro-kun will be delivering the Valedictory Address."_

 _There was a round of applause as the light brown haired boy took the stage._

 _He cleared his throat. "It has been my honor to learn alongside you all. Going to school, sitting through those often boring classes, and doing the work as assigned is a vital part of growing up, becoming a responsible adult who contributes to the well-being of this societ..._

 _There was a sudden pause._ _He cleared his throat again, and then:_

 _"You know what? No. I'm not doing this. I'm not going to play this game of repeating cliches and just pretending everything's A-Okay. You know what? I don't deserve to be up here today. It was supposed to be Naomi up here. Her grades were better than mine this year. Yeah, you heard me right. Naomi Kobuchi. The girl you all thought was an idiot. She got better grades than me. This school would have you believe that she 'ran away' from home, but they don't know her like I do, okay? Not the Principle, not her good for nothing foster parents, and certainly not the police. She was abducted, taken against her will. She could be dead right now for all we know and this school wants nothing better than to just sweep it all under the rug and make the elephant in the room disap-"_

 _His microphone was cut. He continued to rant even as barely anyone could hear him. The Vice-Principle walked up to him, grabbed his arm, and dragged him offstage._

 _And with that, the graduation ceremony came to an abrupt end._

 **Scene Transition**

Suffice to say, the cake buffet was closed for the rest of the day. Naomi went with the police down to the station.

Inspector Megure entered the room. He sat down and turned the tape recorder on.

"Miss Kobuchi," he said, "it is my understanding that you claim to be the victim of repeated and severe physical and sexual abuse over the course of the past three years or so."

Naomi nodded reluctantly. "You understand correctly."

"And it is my understanding also that you have already seen our sketch artist to provide us with a rough composite image of your abuser."

"That's right. Is there...is there some kind of test I need to take, to prove my story?"

"Umm, yes, possibly," Megure said. "But first, I'm going to have to ask you some personal questions, ones which you may not be comfortable with answering but which I can assure you are relevant to this investigation. Please answer as truthfully and in as straightforward a manner as possible."

"Yes. I will."

They could not hear what was being said in the other room, but Sonoko, Nancy, Conan, and Takanobu-san were looking inside via the large glass divider.

None of the three teens knew Naomi very well. She first showed up in Teitan Elementary School and continued her education at Teitan Middle School alongside other kids her age; she was very shy, and for a long time it was assumed by most that she was far behind her peers academically. What she had in her favor was her long dark hair; it looked good on her, and combined with her loner attitude it was enough that people started calling her Raven-chan. It was known that her closest friend was Shujiro, the school's top performing student. They'd associated with each other since elementary, and it was an enigma to most people: the smartest kid there hanging out with the dumb girl? People reasoned that they must've been dating, a rumor that was never confirmed. She was last seen in school about five days before graduation. On that day, she was seen attending classes as normal; however, afterwards she never went home. She was fifteen years old.

Now here she was, having resurfaced after three years.

A solid half hour passed.

Megure left the room and walked over to where they were waiting.

"Well?" Takanobu asked.

"She refuses to lead us to the place where she was held captive," Megure said. "She's afraid of coming across that person again."

"...Maybe we don't need to," Conan said.

"Huh?" Megure said.

"Please give me one day," Conan said. "When it's all set up tomorrow, have Naomi-san meet us here at the police station again."

Megure hesitated but then he sighed. "Okay. Experience has taught me that you know what you're doing. Don't waste anybody's time."

Conan nodded. "I won't."

 **Scene Transition**

 **The Next Day**

They all gathered at the police station again. This time Kogoro, Dr. Agasa, and Haibara were present as well.

"Geez, Inspector, why are you letting this brat lead you around?" Kogoro protested.

"As I seem to recall, when you're both awake he's the more reliable of the two," Megure retorted. "Alright, Conan-kun. Show us what you got."

Conan turned to Haibara and nodded. She went and put the CD into the disk drive of the nearby desktop computer.

"Alright," she mumbled, "I just have to install the program, and..."

"She and the Professor worked all day yesterday putting this together," Conan said.

"She stayed up until 4 in the morning to finish," Dr. Agasa said.

B-By herself? Megure thought with amazement. How much of a genius is that girl?

"And...here we go," Haibara said. "It is live."

They all gathered around to watch the interactive map on the screen.

"This is all taken from Goggle Maps," Conan explained. "We went around taking ground-level pictures of various locations within roughly ten miles of where she was found. You can access those pictures by clicking on any given part of the map. We went through this trouble because conventional maps all by themselves can be very difficult, if not impossible to work with, especially if you're not familiar with the area. But with pictures to help her out, we figured Naomi-san could recreate the route she took from the time when she escaped her captivity to when she made it to the cake buffet where she sought help from her uncle."

Naomi sat down at the desk.

"Now see here," Haibara said, "if you just click with the mouse from Point A to Point B..."

She did so for sake of demonstration, and a line was created between the two points.

"Now just right-click and then click 'Undo' and...presto," she finished.

Naomi nodded.

"This all sounds like a big waste of time," Kogoro said. "Inspector, didn't you tell me that you already have a sketching of the culprit?"

Megure nodded. "And we even got a match: Sadamatsu Uyama, age 48. A civil engineer. Divorced. We had the police come to his house, but he wasn't home. We were able to get a search warrant, but..."

"The search yielded nothing," Takagi explained. "We were not able to lift any DNA or fingerprint evidence from his house belonging to anyone beside himself. There was no sign that a person had been held there against their will for any extended period of time. Furthermore, according to Naomi-san's testimony the room in which she was held had no windows. Besides the bathroom and three closets, there were no rooms in the house which fit that description. Finally, we showed Naomi-san pictures of the exterior and interior of the house, and she said it did not look familiar to her. As a result, we've had to conclude that if Uyama-san was indeed her abductor, he was holding her elsewhere."

"Then no offense, but couldn't she be lying?" Kogoro said.

Takanobu was riled up by that comment. "What was that?! What did you just-

"I mean, it's possible, isn't it?" Kogoro said, ignoring him. "Hey, this police department has, err, kits for testing...stuff, right? Checking for certain...things that might've been done to a person."

Megure nodded. "She consented to be tested yesterday. We then sent it to a lab and we expect the results to be in later today or tomorrow."

"Ah-ah...!"

They turned to Naomi, who had finished putting together the reconstructed route.

"It ends at...an overpass?" Dr. Agasa said, puzzled.

"Y-Yes, I recognize that graffiti," Naomi said. "I saw it when I was leaving. And there was grass when I stepped outside."

"Outside?" Kogoro repeated.

Megure turned to his men. "Be ready to leave in five minutes!"

 **Scene Transition**

Parking on the shoulder of the road several dozen yards away, they walked to the large stone wall at the start of the overpass. Sure enough, there was the graffiti that Naomi claimed to recognize.

"Hey, Inspector! Over here!" Chiba said.

They all ran to check it out: it was a set of tire tracks in the grass.

"Takagi, ask around at tire shops and go find the most recent point where Uyama changed the tires on his car," Megure said. "Then find out exactly what model tire he uses, and compare the treads on them to this scene."

Takagi nodded and ran off.

"She said there's an entrance to somewhere here?" Kogoro said. "Like some kind of secret lair where he held her?"

"I don't like your tone," Takanobu said.

Conan examined the wall. Nancy stood next to him.

He was silent as he stared at it intently, and then:

Something caught his eye. He slowly looked up, and then back down, and then towards the ground.

If my theory is correct, he thought...

He felt the bottom of the wall, grabbed onto something, and then pulled as hard as he could.

And that revealed it: the wall opened up from the bottom. It was actually a door, a door that swung upwards, so that they had to take three steps back.

"Holy cow..." Sonoko muttered.

Police officers rushed inside to comb every square inch of the scene.

They'd found it. The smoking gun that confirmed Naomi's story.

 **Ending**

( _Hikari_ by Hikaru Utada, main theme to the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts)

 _Donna toki datte_

 _Tada hitori de_

 _Unmei wasurete_

 _Ikite kita no ni_

 _Totsuzen no hikari no naka me ga sameru_

 _Mayonaka ni_

 _Shizuka ni deguchi ni tatte_

 _Kurayami ni hikari o ute_

 _Imadoki yakusoku nante fuan ni saseru dake kana_

 _Negai o kuchi ni shitai dake sa_

 _Kazoku ni mo shoukai suru yo_

 _Kitto umaku iku yo_

 _Donna toki datte_

 _Zutto futari de_

 _Donna toki datte_

 _Soba ni iru kara_

 _Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi o mitsukeru_

 _Mayonaka ni_


	2. Chapter 2

As the police searched the hidden cavity space inside of the overpass entrance, they found this:

There was a small room when they entered, some bare lighting installed on the ceiling, the walls composed of reinforced concrete, probably to keep the structure from collapsing on itself, given the fact that countless vehicles were driving above it every single day. In the room they found a door composed of sheer metal. The door had several locks on it, all from the outside, presumably to keep someone locked in. The door was certainly strong enough that no human being could burst their way through it with sheer force, or at least not without some kind of battering ram.

The police opened the door to find another (larger) room. There was a large litter box, big enough for a human being. There was various trash scattered across the floor, such as food shavings. There was also a bed. The police found a number of human hairs and fingerprints; all of the hairs found belonged to Naomi. About half of the fingerprints belonged to her and the other half were later identified as belonging to the man she accused of having held her there, Sadamatsu Uyama. They found traces and stains of *ahem* fluids all over the bed, lending credence to the claim that Naomi had been sexually assaulted, though the lab testing of the rape kit would also confirm this just a few hours later.

According to Naomi, during her captivity she'd been impregnated three times. When Uyama found out about it, he would induce a miscarriage via a hard blow to the abdomen. After the third pregnancy, he began leaving oral contraceptives for her. They also found traces of Naomi's blood and even vomit on the floor. It went without saying that the room was absolutely filthy. She tried hard to keep her corner of the room (where she spent her days huddled against the wall, sometimes sitting and sometimes standing) clean. She made a conscious effort to never touch the bed whenever he wasn't present.

Naomi recounted that during these three years she had no human contact besides with Uyama. He would visit her every two or three days; sometimes he would leave the lights off when he left, leaving her in darkness for days on end. Other times, he would leave the light on, which would interfere with her circadian rhythm and make it difficult to sleep or keep track of the time (when the lights were off, there were slight cracks in the walls that allowed small amounts of light in, which helped her know whenever it was day or night). When he visited, he would handcuff her to the bed while he emptied the litter box and left/changed out a bowl of food and water, as though she were an animal. After undergoing these tasks he would force himself upon her; sometimes he did not remove the handcuffs while he was doing so, which led to her wrists being severely bruised. One time she stood beside the door and attempted to overpower him when he entered; he managed to overpower her and then proceeded to stab her in the hip as punishment. Sometimes he would just come in angry about something and start taking it out on her, beating her and screaming at her until she passed out. Whenever she heard the door to the other room open, it would fill her with fear, because she didn't know if he was going to beat her or not.

Due to the extreme condition of the room the likes of Conan, Nancy, and Haibara were not allowed to step foot inside. It was considered to be simply too much for kids to see, even kids as smart as these.

 **OPENING**

(White Sails by Maroon Festival)

(Conan's Voice: No pain, no gain! In the course of exposing the flaws in others you'll often uncover unwanted truths about yourself! A girl who was trapped in darkness for the longest time! Now Naomi endeavors to live as a free human being at last! Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

If you look now you can see them departing from the docks

Bravely embarking beyond the horizon visible from the shore

Venturing into the endless deep-blue expanse we call the earth

Filled with anticipation and the realization there's no turning back

A trail blazed by the trade winds, overhead, blowing on their hair

Their time-worn wooden craft dipping into the crashing waves

The furthest out of the land-based seagulls seeing them off at last

As they boldly tread where none of their kin have gone before

"Isn't it great to be alive in these times?" the captain says, leaning against the deck

"Our forefathers made the way for this glorious day: let's not let them down, eh?"

White sails unfurled, capturing the wind, our time is here and now

We are the human race, the inheritors of a momentous undertaking

Today we write the next chapter in the timeless story of the proud

So they'll say of us, "They pushed the boundary to the next level."

 **Clipped Wings! Part Two!**

 _The professor at Tohto University underlined the phrase written on the board._

 _"Supply-Side Economics," he began. "Disparagingly called 'Trickle Down Economics' by its detractors. As this is a loaded term which does not accurately represent the position of its proponents, we will not be using it in this class."_

 _Shujiro's phone vibrated. He looked around to make sure nobody was watching and then he pulled it out._

 _His heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw the number: it was Inspector Juzo Megure, the man who had led the investigation into Naomi's disappearance three years ago. A man who, for a long time, Shujiro had resented, but nonetheless he'd been eagerly waiting for the day that this man would contact him with some kind of update on the situation._

 _He opened his phone and read the text that he had received:_

 _"Naomi Kobuchi has been found. You were right, three years ago she was abducted. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you then. Please come down to the police station as soon as possible. I think she will be happy to see you."_

 _After taking ten seconds to process what he had just read, he stood up and walked out of the classroom without bothering to excuse himself._

 _As soon as he entered the hallway, he began running. Passing by an area that had been mopped just like five minutes ago, he slipped and crashed into the wall. His elbow bruised, he immediately got up and continued on his way regardless._

 _"Yo, Shujiro," his dorm mate said as they brushed by each other on the stairs. Shujiro didn't answer him._

 _He slammed the door open and ran outside, then headed for his car. He got in, put his seat belt on, started it, and sped off._

 **Scene Transition**

Having called his wife Midori to inform her that he would not be coming home that night, Megure stood in the "war room" where various police departments of towns and cities across the country had gathered to coordinate their efforts to find who was now the most wanted man in all of Japan.

Superintendent Hyoue Kuroda (Author's Note: in this branch-off fanon universe he has absolutely nothing to do with Rum) was the officer in charge of the manhunt.

"Very good," Kuroda said. "...Yeah, it's being printed as we speak. Keep me up to date." And with that he hung up.

The fax machine spewed out the five page psychological profile on Uyama. He took it and began peering over it.

"I'll bet you I can already tell you what that says," Megure said.

"Hmm?"

"It took me a little while to remember, but it turns out I was involved with a case where that man was the main suspect in a murder," Megure said. "Six years ago. There wasn't enough evidence to convict him, but..."

He sighed. "Sadamatsu Uyama. He was arrested twice as a teen for voyeurism, and then once more in his early twenties. Became a construction worker, and later went to technical school to become a civil engineer. Married at the age of 26, and then divorced within nine months. They had one child, and he was afforded visitation rights. Nine years ago his wife went to court to have those visitation rights revoked, after she claimed to have discovered a peephole in the bathroom of his home so he could watch his daughter shower whenever she came over to visit overnight. He renounced all custody, probably to avoid a police investigation into these allegations."

"Can you tell me about the murder in which he was suspected?" Kuroda asked.

"Ah, yes. The man was an Indonesian immigrant, Sukarno Panggabean. At the time we suspected that it may have been a hate crime; we were able to obtain his IP address and we checked with a number of the most popular right-wing and ultra-nationalist social media outlets to see if he may have been viewing those pages. The search came up negative. The main link that the two men had was that they had both worked on the construction of a certain overpass...looking back, I suspect that Sukarno-san was the only other person to know about the hollow space contained inside it."

"Given what you just said, we might be going about this wrong," Kuroda said. "If that hollow space was not part of the blueprints for the construction of the overpass, then he may've built similar spaces in other projects that he worked on. Any one of those would make for a d**n good hiding spot..."

Megure nodded. "I've already asked Sato-san to provide me with a list of all the construction projects that Uyama oversaw. I've asked Takagi-kun to inquire about Uyama's electricity bills and all of the locations where power companies provided service under contract with Uyama, since the place we searched had electric lighting. It shouldn't be too long."

"But it's strange, don't you think?" Kuroda said. "Since his car was not at his home, it should be clear that he did not flee on foot. But in that case, either he's already left the city of Tokyo or he's done a very good job of making sure that we don't find his car. The reasonable assumption is that he fled upon realizing that Naomi-san had escaped, in which case the police would know all about that particular hollow point in the overpass. From there, it'd be reasonable for him to assume that the police would be able to find his other 'hidey holes'. So what was their purpose? It's clear this one was built six years ago, long before he kidnapped Naomi-san."

"Perhaps that was the only one he built?" Megure suggested. "I mean, it did entail a lot of risk. Somebody did find out, and he had to silence that person. If I were him, I would be extremely reluctant to take that risk repeatedly."

"But even if that's the case, why would he wait three years?" Kuroda said. "Based on Uyama's profile, and on what you told me, I don't think he'd be inclined to wait that long...Wait, what if Naomi-san wasn't the first one?"

"We haven't found anybody else's fingerprints or DNA there though," Megure said. "Just hers and his."

"Hey, when you searched his home, what did you find?"

"Huh? Nothing, really."

"Did you search his computer?" Kuroda asked.

"Our people are working on that," Megure said. "His laptop has a password, and three consecutive wrong guesses cause it to lock for ten minutes. It's going to be one tough nut to crack. Why? Do you suspect...?"

"Underage pornography," Kuroda said. "Based on his psychological profile, he is attracted to teenage girls. He could've originally designed that space as a hiding spot in case the police ever discovered those activities."

"But later on he could've decided to repurpose it as a holding place for the kidnapped Naomi," Megure finished.

 **Scene Transition**

It was now Sunday.

"Geez, why'd you all have to tag along?" Conan said.

"That should be obvious!" Ayumi said, still not very happy with the whole ordeal.

"I think we're all a little curious," Mitsuhiko said.

"Yeah, who on earth would be in love with a sad fop like you?" Genta asked.

Where on earth did you pick up that language? Conan thought with a deadpan look.

"In any-case, Edogawa-kun already has a girlfriend," Haibara said with a smirk.

"Heeeh?!" Mitsuhiko said. "When did that happen?!"

Nancy sort of panicked and began giving Haibara the "shush" gesture. At this time, the children did not know that the place where Conan and Nancy had spent time recently was a honeymoon resort.

They crossed the street and reached the entrance to Beika Park. Conan stopped in his tracks.

"...Why don't you guys head on home?" Conan asked.

"Huh?" Mitsuhiko said.

"I don't think she'll be comfortable saying what she has to say in front of all of you," Conan said. "She just wanted to meet with me, right?"

"He's right," Haibara said. "Come on, let's go to the Professor's house. We can whip up some curry for lunch. How's that sound?"

And so they reluctantly went with her. Nancy, on the other hand, continued into the park so to watch the interaction from a distance.

And so, Conan stood in plain sight in the middle of the park, looking at his watch. It was 11:58.

That person peered at him from behind a tree, happy that Conan had come. They looked around to make sure that nobody else was with him.

And then, they came out from behind there and ran towards him.

"Thank you so much for coming!"

"Huuh?" Conan said. "Are-are *you* the person who sent me that letter?"

"Y-Yeah," that person said bashfully. "My name is Tomohiko."

"Yeah, I've seen you around," Conan said. "You're...a boy, aren't you?"

There was an awkward pause.

"Uhh, yes, I am?" Tomohiko responded. "Did you-did you really think that I was a...?"

He started blushing. "Oh my gosh, this is so embarrassing! It's my haircut, isn't it?"

"It is a bit shaggy," Conan said. "And long. And your clothes aren't exactly the most boyish. At our age it's a little harder to tell between genders, so...my bad."

There was another pause.

"So...why did you want to meet me here?" Conan asked.

"B-Because," he said, blushing, "you are my...you are my..."

"Y-Yes?" Conan said, a bit unnerved.

Oi, oi, don't tell me that this boy is...Conan thought, wincing.

"YOU ARE MY HERO!"

Tomohiko bowed politely. "You're like a great detective! And you always get good grades! And you're so popular! Can I...can I have your autograph?"

Immensely relieved, Conan was happy to put down his signature on Tomohiko's notepad. And then the boy left with a joyous expression.

Nancy came walking up to Conan.

"What was that all about?" she asked. "Wasn't that Tomohiko-kun?"

"Y-yeah," Conan said. "He...just wanted my autograph..."

And with that he began chuckling out loud.

Not approving of how cocky he was acting, Nancy knocked him on the head.

"Ow," he responded. "What was that for?"

"That could've been a trap, you know," Nancy said.

"Nah, I don't think he wants to look like a girl," Conan said.

Still, he could've used more masculine sounding pronouns, he thought with a deadpan look.

"Huh? No, not that. I mean...what if he was, you know, one of them?"

"What? And they wanted my signature so they could compare it to Shinichi Kudo's?" Conan retorted. "All they'd have to do is get their hands on some of the pieces of paper I've turned in to my teachers. It'd be easier, I'm sure. But yeah, I did kind of consider that possibility, which is why I wrote my name with my left hand. It's reasonable to assume that a young child would have bad handwriting...whenever my adult nervous system is combined with me writing with my non-dominant hand, I think it more or less balanced itself out and looked natural enough."

They crossed the street.

"Man, I wish I could be given more information on that case," Conan said. "Your dad won't let me tag along as he normally does."

"Why? Do you think you could find that man who kidnapped Raven-chan?"

"Hmm? Yeah, that, and..."

"And?"

"I don't know..."

And then, his phone vibrated.

 **Scene Transition**

 _For the night, Naomi agreed to stay at Takanobu's two-story house, which he was able to afford because of all the money his celebrity status afforded him. It would be the first time in three years that Naomi got to shower or brush her teeth; since everything that she was wearing was filthy, Takanobu went out to get her something to wear. In the meantime, five police officers stood guard in the home._

 _Shujiro (who, upon arriving at the police station, had been redirected by Megure to this address, since Naomi had already left), walked up to the front door, which was guarded by an officer clad in a ballistic vest, a helmet, and an AR-15._

 _"You're Naomi-san's friend who we were told to expect?"_

 _Shujiro nodded._

 _The officer stepped aside and let him inside._

 _As the door opened, Naomi turned her head to see who it was. Upon realizing her visitor's identity, she stood up from the couch._

 _They stared at each other from across the room._

 _"N-Naomi..." he said._

 _"Shujiro...kun..."_

 _"NAOMI!"_

 _He wrapped his arms around her and stubbornly held on tight._

 **One Hour Later**

 _"And that...is the story of how I survived," she said. "How about you?"_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"Uncle tells me you're already in college."_

 _"Y-Yeah, after you disappeared I kind of had a meltdown in front of the entire school, and so I had to change schools. I didn't know anyone there, so...I had no incentive to stay behind any longer."_

 _"I wasn't there, you mean," Naomi said._

 _"Naomi..."_

 _"All that time you could've leaped a whole grade ahead. You were well beyond the rest of our class. But you didn't, because of me. I guess I owe you an apology, huh."_

 _"Hey now, don't ever say that! You don't have to apologize to anyone for anything, much less to me. The truth is, had all this not happened, had you been able to graduate at the top of your class as scheduled, you would've had a bright future ahead of you. You wouldn't have needed me or anyone else, you could've just spread your wings and soared. You could've gone as far as you wanted to go."_

 _"You said all that in the past tense."_

 _"Well, I mean..."_

 _"I understand," she said, remaining cheerful. "I have a lot of catching up to do. I'm well behind my peers."_

 _"Naomi, I have a favor to ask."_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"P-Please let me tutor you! It'll be just like old times. I want nothing more than to be there by your side on the day you get awarded your high school diploma."_

 _She smiled. "You're so sweet, just like the boy I remember...but how will you have time to handle your workload and help a middle school student?"_

 _"I'll make time. Whatever it takes. I'll...I'll drop a class or two!"_

 _"You say that like it's so easy, but you're forgetting: It's not just one year. I have to make up for several years. If you take fewer hours for that long, it'll significantly delay your being able to graduate, won't it? I'm not going to let you make that kind of sacrifice. Not for little old me."_

 _"But..."_

 _And then Takanobu came through the door carrying several shopping bags._

 _"Oh, Shujiro-kun," he said. "You came to see Naomi?"_

 _"I guess I'd better get going," Shujiro said. "You take good care of her, sir."_

 _"I will. I'll protect her with my life if I have to."_

 _Shujiro turned to Naomi. "Hey...would you like to maybe go get some ice cream sometime?"_

 _She nodded. "I'd like that."_

 _And as he turned his back to leave, she realized for the first time that Shujiro had a beautiful soul, gilded like the breastplate of an archangel._

 **Scene Transition**

It was Monday now.

"I suppose you're going to tell me to try and make some friends," Naomi said glumly, sitting in the passenger seat of Takanobu's car.

He shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt. A lot of the kids there are only three or four years younger than you. Growing up one of my best friends was almost two years younger. And...I understand that at this point your life experiences are dramatically different from any other kid, or adult even. But you can't let that define you, you know?"

The car came to a stop at the entrance. Naomi got out.

"Alright, have fun, and above all be safe. Keep your phone on you at all times."

Then he drove away from the grounds of Teitan Middle School.

 **Scene Transition**

The teacher wrote the name on the board.

"Do any of you have anything you'd like to say to Naomi?"

One boy raised his hand. "How old are you?"

"...I'm eighteen," she said.

That set off a wave of murmuring and soft derisive laughter in the classroom. It was then that Naomi knew she wouldn't be making any friends any time soon.

 **Scene Transition**

"...So, how was your first day?" Takanobu asked.

"It was awful!" she exploded. "I'm sure they recognized me from the news."

"Now now, you know that's not possible," he said. "You're still a minor, so the media has not made your identity public. For all they know you could be mentally delayed."

"Oh come on you're not helping anything, saying stuff like that!"

"Well, maybe you'll feel better when we get home."

They pulled into the house, which, again, was guarded by police officers.

They walked up to the front door. Naomi opened it, stepped inside, and:

"SURPRISE!"

The students of Teitan High who'd been around long enough to know Naomi had even hung up a streamer saying "Happy Birthday Raven-chan". Her birthday had passed about a week and a half ago; of course, at the time she had still been a prisoner to that certain evil individual. About fifteen of Raven's peers were present, including Shujiro. Masumi, who had not been living in the area long enough to have possibly known Naomi, still came, so to be nice.

Moved by this display of kindness, Naomi put her hands to her mouth.

"Here, this is from all of us," Sonoko said, stepping forward and handing her a wrapped present.

She opened it up and: it was the blue uniform worn by female students at Teitan High School.

"In one year's time that'll look good on you," somebody said.

There was a loud grunt coming from the bathroom. Then, a few seconds later, the door opened and somebody came out.

It was that cocky teenage detective, Shinichi Kudo.

There was a silence as he walked up to her. He grinned and extended his hand.

"Welcome back, Raven-chan," he said. "And happy birthday."

After an awkward pause she shook his hand, not looking up at his face but rather just nodding.

Shujiro couldn't help but to smile, that Kudo had honored his request:

 _Conan walked into Dr. Agasa's house. "What's up?"_

 _"Some guy named Shujiro left you a message," Haibara said. "Do you know him?"_

 _"...Yeah, I remember him. He was Naomi's boyfriend, I think."_

 _The children could be heard chattering loudly in the other room._

 _Haibara pushed the button on the answering machine._

 _*beeeeeep* "Hello? Shinichi Kudo? It's me, Shujiro, from Middle School. I trust you've heard the news about Naomi, right? Well, some of her old classmates want to throw her a party tomorrow, right after school lets out. It'll be to celebrate her freedom but also her birthday, which passed recently. I...I would really, really appreciate it if you could come. It'll be at her uncle Takanobu's house, and...um, well, if there's anybody else listening to these, please either stop the message or leave. This is just for his ears...*ahem* The truth is, Naomi's always been in love with you. I don't know if she still thinks about you now, after all this time, but...again, if you get this, I am asking you to come. It'll be at her uncle's house on Monday after school. If you can, show up a little bit early. From what I heard you don't actually go to school these days, and you often aren't home, so...I'll understand if you don't get this message in time. But if you do, well, be there. You don't have to be there long. Just long enough for her to know that you came. And say a word or two to her while you're at it. Anything, as long as it's something nice. I think it'll really mean a lot to her...Okay, bye."_

 _*beeeeeep*_

 _"...Well?" Haibara asked. "Are you going to go?"_

 _"Y-Yeah..." Conan said, blushing like crazy._

Takanobu watched the scene, happy for Naomi that so many of her old classmates had cared enough to be here.

Then his phone rang. A work related call.

"Yeah?" he answered. "...Uh huh...Look, just forget about Lenore, alright? She hasn't come to work or returned any of my calls since last week, so...yeah, yeah, she's fired. Definitely. If she shows up just tell her to leave. I'm not gonna put up with an employee as unreliable as her...yeah, yeah, that's true, you're right, she had a near spotless track record before last week, but that doesn't excuse her absence now...You know what? You're right. If she comes back, ask her why she's been gone, wait, no, if she comes back put her on the line with me. I wanna have a talk with her...*sigh* Maybe she had some really, really, really good reason. I guess I can give her the benefit of the doubt. The phone just rang and rang until it hit the voice messaging every single time, so maybe she doesn't have access to her phone. I don't know why that could be, but...yeah. Yeah. Just do what I said...Okay. And as for the batter mix recipe, it should be in the file cabinet in my office, on the top shelf. Alright, if that's all, I'm gonna hang up now...Okay bye."

He hung up. Shinichi walked up to him.

"Yes?"

"Umm, about that, I was hoping to ask you a few questions," Shinichi said.

 **Scene Transition**

 **Sometime in between Monday and Saturday**

Conan returned to the foot of the overpass. He found the graffiti which marked the doorway to the hidden chamber where Naomi was held. Crime Scene tape now covered it. If his suspicions were right...

He walked around, under the tall pillars that held up the cars driving overhead, and ended up on the other side.

He looked around, until he saw it. He felt down on the ground until he grabbed onto the latch, and pulled up.

...So that's how it was, he thought sadly.

 **Scene Transition**

It was now Saturday.

Naomi could not help but to be happy that the soccer field at Teitan Middle School still looked exactly the same as it did all those years ago. There was a nice breeze blowing.

And there she found Shinichi, waiting for her, leaning against the goal.

She held in her hand the letter he'd left in her locker yesterday, which read:

 _Dear Naomi, I know you were watching me at the soccer field three years ago. And I know why. Please meet me there tomorrow at 5:00 in the afternoon. Signed, Shinichi Kudo._

She extended the envelope towards him.

"...This wasn't a prank?" she asked. "You sent me this?"

He nodded. "It was only fair that I send you one, after you sent one to me."

Three years ago, he'd gotten an anonymous letter in which the sender professed her love for him, all the while acknowledging that he belonged with Ran and that she wished the two of them much happiness together.

"It was what you saw here," Shinichi said. "The interaction between me and Ran. That made you realize it, right? That you and me weren't meant to be."

Naomi was silent.

"...But that's ancient history," Shinichi said. "I'm sure what you feel about me now is different now. Much different. Raven-chan...do you hate me?"

Another pause.

"Huh?" Naomi said. "O-Of course I don't hate-

"It's okay to be honest," Shinichi said. "By that time my peers knew me as a genius detective. I even let it get to my head, just a little bit..." He smirked.

"So that must've made it all the more painful," he continued. "The way you felt about me, what you knew I could do; you were banking all your hopes on me, weren't you? To find you, to rescue you, to bring your kidnapper to justice. That's not what happened, of course...I'm somewhat ashamed to say this, but I didn't even investigate. I thought about it, but then I considered your home life. Your foster parents, they didn't care for you one bit. They often forgot or otherwise neglected to come pick you up after school, so your uncle would have to come get you. They blew the money given to them by the state to spend on schoolbooks for you, using it instead on themselves. And because you had no schoolbooks, you weren't able to get good grades. That's why the teachers stuck you with Shujiro...When I looked at you, I saw a timid girl with almost no friends. I didn't realize how close you and Shujiro were. So, with that in mind, combined with the touted evidence that was probably left behind at the school by Uyama, I thought for sure you'd run away. That wasn't something I wanted to get caught up in."

There was another pause.

"L-Look, if you're here to say 'I'm sorry', then I forgive you completely," Naomi said.

"...No."

"Huh?"

"No. That's not why I'm here. I'm sorry, but I'm about to give you yet another reason to hate me. I can't help it, I guess. It's just who I am...But, with that in mind, I think I'll jump right into it. Naomi Kobuchi, you're under arrest for the murder of Lenore Wilder and Sadamatsu Uyama."

Naomi looked mortified now, having heard Kudo-kun say that the gig was up, that he knew her sins.

"I asked Inspector Megure and asked for all the information included in your testimony," Shinichi said. "You recounted that after visiting at night, Uyama accidentally left the door unlocked and slightly cracked. After about thirty minutes or an hour, you noticed this. You hesitated, because you worried he might've intentionally left the door open to bait you. However, after waiting another two or three hours you decided it was safe and made your escape. From there, you went on foot, refusing to allow yourself to be picked up by vehicles in fear that Uyama might recapture you that way, especially since you didn't know what his vehicle looked like, though surely you knew what it sounded like by that point."

"Per your testimony," he continued, "you wandered on foot for several hours, not knowing where you were headed. However, in the early hours of morning you came across a billboard with your uncle's face on it. It advertised his cake buffet; as you knew he was a professional chef, this was confirmation that your uncle ran the place or was otherwise involved in its operation. The billboard said that you could get there by continuing down that road for about thirty miles. Finally, you arrived roughly at or shortly before evening of that same day."

"Of course," he continued, "you had to tell a story like this. Otherwise you'd have no explanation as to how you magically wound up at your uncle's cakery, an establishment that did not exist at the time of your abduction. However, your story has a gaping flaw: the billboard."

"What about it? Were there not any along the route that I showed the police?"

"No, there was. Thirty miles from the bakery along the path you described is located in Haido ward; to reduce distractions on the roads late at night, the ward did about two years ago pass an ordinance prohibiting the operation of electronic billboards, or the illumination of regular billboards, from the hours of 1 AM to 6:00 AM. As this is still the winter, daylight does not start before 6 AM. That means you could not possibly have seen any such billboard before 6 o'clock."

"And?"

"You walked in at 3:46 PM that day. I-uh, I mean, Conan, remembers. You covered 30 miles in less than 10 hours."

"What about it? Is that so unthinkable?"

He sighed. "In your case, yes. Very. You'd been sitting in a room for three years, probably didn't have a very healthy diet. The muscles in your legs would've likely atrophied. Plus, as a girl, your legs are shorter than those of the average guy. You would've had to sustain 3 miles per hour or more for about 9 hours straight, and I doubt you could've done this. Of what I've heard, you've been put on a physical rehabilitation regimen; I talked to your uncle Takanobu about it, and he said you've been unable to sustain a normal walking pace for more than ten to fifteen minutes."

She clenched her fists. "So? Is that your reasoning? Maybe I lied in my testimony to the police, okay? Maybe I did let some passerbys carry me all or part of the way."

"That is possible," Shinichi said. "However, the discrepancies with your story were enough to get me to look into it. You claim that you escaped on Wednesday night, or perhaps the early hours of Thursday. However, I don't think this is actually the case. I think you actually escaped much earlier, perhaps on Monday. You see, on that week Lenore, an employee at your uncle's cakery, was scheduled to work all day Sunday, all day Monday, all day Tuesday, Wednesday night, all day Thursday, and all day Friday. She worked her Sunday and Monday shifts as normal, and then when she came in on Tuesday morning she asked if she could get off Tuesday night, a request that was granted. However, when Wednesday night rolled around she failed to show up for work. And she did the same on Thursday and Friday, and then into this week. That is to say, she disappeared sometime in between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday night, and has not been seen since."

"Hmph, and you think I did it?"

"Yeah, I think you did. I asked a coworker who knew her; she said that after work at night Lenore would routinely go and buy a pack of cigarettes from the gas station near her apartment. For this purpose, Lenore would ask to borrow her driver's license, claiming that she was only 19. The coworker had her hair dyed blonde at the time that her driver's license photo was taken, and Lenore's hair was naturally blonde, so it worked out. This gas station, as it turned out, was only about a miles and a half from the overpass. You could've stumbled upon the gas station by chance, and decided to go inside and ask if you could use a phone, so as to call the police. When you entered, you came across Lenore."

"And what? I just decided to kill her? Because I'm some serial killer freak?"

"No, you decided to kill her because she had betrayed you."

Naomi was silent, but the look on her face made it clear that he had cornered her.

"The police did not think to ask," Shinichi said. "Is there anybody in this world who Naomi Kobuchi would hate more than her abductor? The answer to that was yes. There was the woman who'd been locked in the chamber immediately adjacent to yours, close enough that the two of you could speak to each other from across the wall that divided you, through a single 'sweet spot' where the wall's acoustic-blocking properties were weakest and some sound could get through as long as you spoke loudly. The police believed that you'd spent all of your time in the corner. But that's not true. Near this 'sweet spot', you'd made some carvings into the wall. They were from games that you played with Lenore, in order to pass the time and retain your sanity. Well, I found similar carvings in Lenore's room. She had even etched your name into the wall, in Latin script letters, proving that you two were able to make contact. At some point, a good while before you did, she escaped. And that caused you to hope for the first time in a long while: that Lenore would send for help."

"But no help came," he continued. "You wondered why not, and soon you realized: Lenore had forgotten about you. And that's why you grew to hate her. Whenever, on Monday night, you encountered her at the gas station, you recognized her voice. And she'd probably told you that she was a foreigner, perhaps even that she had blonde hair, so you were able to recognize her physically just going by that. She drove you straight to her apartment, and told you to stay there and not contact anybody for the time being. The next day, she went to work and asked your uncle off for the night. She didn't tell him about you, of course: she wanted to spend time with you and convince you not to tell anybody about the kidnapping. Or, at least, she wanted you to later tell the police and your uncle that you were the only kidnapping victim you knew of, that she was not involved at all. Sometime after she returned home, you took your revenge on her and killed her, probably with some instrument that she had lying around the house. As she would've been deathly afraid of Uyama, she likely would've tried to get her hands on a gun. You might've found it and killed her with that, though I suppose that would've been loud enough to draw other people's attention. After you killed her, you knew that Uyama would be returning to the overpass soon. Since he came at night, you knew that your best bet would probably be Wednesday night. So you bided your time inside Lenore's apartment until then, and finally mustered up enough courage to go and confront Uyama. You had 24 hours or more to find a suitable weapon with which to use to kill him. Per your testimony, he was armed with a knife. If Lenore had a gun, that would've been the time to use it. You had two reasons for killing him: first, you obviously hated him and felt that prison was too good for the likes of him. Second, and perhaps equally important, if he was to later have the opportunity to tell the police about when you escaped, you would not have an alibi for Lenore's disappearance. So you had to silence him."

"After you killed them both," he concluded, "you put them in Uyama's truck, and hitched Lenore's small car onto the back of it so that it'd be pulled along. You drove the truck onto the slope overlooking the harbor and then put the truck into neutral, so that it'd slide into the waters. You were sure to have the windows rolled down so that the car wouldn't float. Then you went and took Lenore's car back to her apartment and spent the night. You couldn't take a shower yet because you knew you needed to be filthy for the police and your uncle to find. The next day, Thursday, at the right time you drove the car somewhere near your uncle's bakery and then stashed it where it would not be easily found. Then all you had to do was go inside and be 'rescued'. It was the perfect plan, or so you thought. As for proof, well, I had a friend of mine (Haibara) obtain security camera footage of you entering the gas station Monday night and interacting with Lenore. And of course, should the police find any of your DNA or fingerprints at Lenore's apartment, or should they locate Lenore's car, then they'll have more than enough to convict you."

Naomi fell to her knees, unable to take it any longer. "It was that cowardly b**ch's fault! She just abandoned me! She let that monster continue to have his way with me!"

"Yes, but for good reason."

"What POSSIBLE reason could she've had?!" Naomi ranted, tears streaming down.

"Because she was an illegal immigrant," Shinichi said.

"H-Huh?"

"I have some friends with the FBI," he said. "They did some digging. Lenore Wilder fled the United States a few years ago to evade prosecution for embezzlement. She was fluent in Japanese and she figured nobody'd think to look for her there, so she snuck into this country. She probably feared that if she went to the police about her abduction and imprisonment, and yours, she'd face jailtime. She'd just escaped from one prison: she didn't want to be sent straight to another. Uyama-san was likely attracted to her because she was a naturally blonde Caucasian woman, which he would've seen as exotic, and because she looked a lot younger than she was. She looked like a teenager, in fact. He might've also found out about her illegal status, which was why he didn't go on the run whenever she escaped: because he knew she couldn't turn to the police."

"But Rav-no, I mean, Naomi...you shouldn't take that as to suggest that she didn't care about you," he continued. "She could've just moved to some far end of the country. Nobody would've found her, probably. Instead, she stayed in the area, hoping for the day that you might escape. She was likely motivated at least in part by guilt. For better or worse, that woman was your friend, and you killed her."

"N-No...no, no, no NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Her hair became disheveled and covered her face.

*shhhhhhhhhh*

Shinichi answered into his walkie-talkie. "Yes, Inspector?"

"It's just like you said," Megure said. "We found the car at the bottom of Tokyo Bay. And yeah, we found the bodies."

"Very good," Shinichi said. "Naomi, would you like to say something to the Inspector?"

Naomi stood up, took the walkie-talkie from him, and said:

"I, Naomi Kobuchi, admit to the murders of Lenore Wilder and Sadamatsu Uyama. Please send somebody to arrest me ASAP."

"...Understood. Officer Takagi will be on his way. Where are you?"

"I'll be waiting in the soccer field at Teitan Middle School," she said.

Then she hung up.

She sighed. "Everything you said was spot on. But you could've just let this go, you know? You didn't have to investigate this. If not for you, I would still be a free woman."

"No, you were never free," Shinichi said. "Monday night you had the chance to be free. Instead, you chose to remain a prisoner to hatred. You were locked in that dungeon for so long that...the dungeon became all you knew. I'm sorry, Naomi."

"...I understand," Naomi said, still crying. "Kudo-kun, if you could do me this one last favor?"

"Anything."

She laughed. "You shouldn't say stuff like that. What if I had asked you to help me evade the police? Anyways, if you could just stand at a distance, and give me some privacy. There's one last phone call I need to make. Besides you, besides all my old classmates, besides my uncle...there's somebody else who I've let down."

Realizing that she was referring to Shujiro, Shinichi nodded and began to walk away.

A few minutes later, Naomi was taken into police custody. She would be sentenced to twenty years in prison on two counts of premeditated murder.

 **Ending**

( _Hikari_ by Hikaru Utada, main theme to the 2002 video game Kingdom Hearts)

 _Donna toki datte_

 _Tada hitori de_

 _Unmei wasurete_

 _Ikite kita no ni_

 _Totsuzen no hikari no naka me ga sameru_

 _Mayonaka ni_

 _Shizuka ni deguchi ni tatte_

 _Kurayami ni hikari o ute_

 _Imadoki yakusoku nante fuan ni saseru dake kana_

 _Negai o kuchi ni shitai dake sa_

 _Kazoku ni mo shoukai suru yo_

 _Kitto umaku iku yo_

 _Donna toki datte_

 _Zutto futari de_

 _Donna toki datte_

 _Soba ni iru kara_

 _Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi o mitsukeru_

 _Mayonaka ni_

 **The Next Day**

Eri finished folding the shirts and took them up to Conan and Nancy's room. She put the shirts on their beds and turned to leave when-

"...He's been like that since yesterday," she noted.

Nancy nodded.

"Conan-kun?" Eri said. "Is something wrong?"

Conan didn't answer but instead continued to stare out the window.

After a few seconds she left.

Nancy walked up to him.

"You oughtn't be like this," she said. "You solved the case, didn't you?"

"Yeah," he said wistfully. "But then why do I feel like such a crummy person right now?"

Nancy walked away.

Conan sighed. And then:

*thump*

"Ow, what was that for?" he said, having been hit in the head with a soccer ball.

"Let's go down to the park and play some," Nancy said, holding the ball.

"I'm not in the mood."

"If you don't then I'll kick the ball around the house and then blame you when something gets knocked over," she said.

Before he could protest she grabbed his hand and began running.

"O-Oi!" he protested weakly as they headed outside.

But I did have a good time, he recalled a little while later sheepishly.

 **The End**


End file.
